SIGNED KUSBAY BIN TANAM, MAMLUK EGYPT, EARLY 16TH CENTURY
 
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri (r. 1501-16) was the penultimate Mamluk sultan and his reign marks the culmination of Mamluk pious and artistic patronage. He commissioned a great number of buildings and built a commercial and residential quarter in Cairo. Works of art and works on paper from his reign are more limited however, and this manuscript is therefore a rare survival.

The manuscript is signed Kusbay bin Tanam. A Tanam al-Najmi was responsible for copying the Royal Qur’an made for Sultan Qaytbay, which sold in these Rooms, 2 May 2019, lot 11. It is tempting to suggest that this is the work of his son. Tanam al-Najmi gave his nisba as Al-Maliki al-Ashrafi, indicating that he was part of the royal scriptorium of Sultan Qaytbay. He copied the Qur’an for Qaytbay in 1489, just twelve years before Qansuh al-Ghuri came to power. That his son trained in the same discipline and was also a member of the royal scriptorium, working under the next Mamluk Sultan, is very probable.

Another manuscript commissioned for Qansuh al-Ghuri sold in these Rooms, 26 October 2017, lot 62.